By Kathryn Bender, Star-Bulletin
Master Sgt. Aurora Trono is among those at Hickam AFB
whose plans to leave the Air Force are on hold.

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War keeps Air Force
members in uniform

By Gregg K. Kakesako
Star-Bulletin

The conflict in the Balkans may be half a world away, but it is having a personal impact on some military personnel in Hawaii.

Five Hickam Air Force Base officers and 135 enlisted members will be kept in uniform past their original separation or retirement dates, under a "stop-loss" program that was initiated by the Pentagon on May 26 to support the air war in the Balkans.

The plan goes into effect today and will affect nearly half of the 120,000 airmen on active duty because of critical shortages in key positions caused by the war in Yugoslavia.

Slightly more than 6,000 airmen had requested and received permission to separate or retire from the Air Force between now and December.

Master Sgt. Aurora Trono, 42, was told last week at Hickam that her retirement plans are now on hold for at least 90 days.

"I had hoped to go job hunting," said Trono, who had orders allowing her to retire Sept. 1 with 21 years of service.

"It's hard not being able to plan or to project since the secretary of the Air Force can extend me for another 90 days if there is a need," the satellite communications technician said.

Trono had planned to stay in Hawaii and work in the communications field at least through next June, when her daughter graduates from Waipahu High School.

Senior Airman Morley Leyton, a satellite communications technician and operator, had planned to return to his home state of Florida to complete his last two years of college majoring in computer graphics.

"It bothers me that I don't know when I am getting out," said Leyton, who has been in the Air Force for eight years. "I can't make definite plans."

He was supposed to leave the Air Force in August and wanted to use the time before University of Florida classes began to find an apartment and a part-time job.

Leyton said he joined the Air Force to get the education benefits the service provides and "to grow up."

"Now it's time to move on,"Leyton said.

Thirty-two Hickam airmen were exempt from the military's stop-loss program. Reasons for the exemptions ranged from disability and hardship.

"Stop-loss is designed to preserve the critical skills essential to support or mission in Europe and Southwest Asia, while remaining prepared to meet another major regional contingency," acting Secretary of the Air Force Whitten Peters said in a statement.

"Stop-loss will also allow us to keep our training base intact, so that we will be able to reconstitute our forces quickly when Kosovo operations cease."

Besides pilots and navigators, the stop-loss program affects air traffic controllers, intelligence personnel, weather forecasters, maintenance people, communications specialists and security officers.

It also blocks any members of the Air Force Reserve or the Air National Guard from quitting to avoid being called up.